How much do you need to earn for 3 kids?

[Diskneedisney]

Exactly that. DH and I are having some back and forth on the topic

i know MN can be a bit skewed with v large incomes but realistically in a 2 parent household (not in london) how much is the minimum gross salary that you think is necessary to live a good life, which includes a holiday abroad and maybe a uk holiday a year.

let’s assume no debts, no cars on anything on finance and a mortgage of £1500 a month. Childcare costs with government funding would be reduced. Let’s assume only one child in nursery. Then big standard average bills on everything else.

dh for instance thinks you’d need a combined income of around 130/150k a year to even contemplate 3. I think that’s a bit silly.

what do we think Mn- appreciate we are painting with a broad brush here

I agree with your dh. We have combined 100k and one dc and we're not where we'd like to be house wise etc. More dc would make it really hard

Are you trolling? Is this whole thread just one massive troll I genuinely can't tell??? What do you think the vast majority of the population who earn less than half of that and somehow still survive are doing?

But that is the point. You dont want to just survive. You want to be able to provide a good life.

i see daily the result of people having children they can afford to feed and not much else. It is selfish.

DH earns £65 and I earn £50 and we couldn’t afford a third.

You realise there's a pretty big middle ground between a six figure salary and only being able to afford enough to feed your kids right?
Like a 90% of the population sized middle ground

I see daily the result of spoilt brats who cant handle anything less than everything being handed to them on a plate. Just saying 😉

Lots of families live quite happily with 3 children on less, there’s a huge gap between being in poverty and being on 150k a year, some people spend 10k a year on holidays, other people have a £1500 budget, watching kids on holiday the ones with the 10k budget don’t seem wildly happier, same with food, clubs etc. Kids have an amazing time at cubs, after school clubs etc even if can’t afford £30 per half hour riding lessons, if you can only afford apples and not exotic fruit for breakfast, it doesn’t mean they’re deprived 🙄

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who was left dumbfounded by this thread lol. I'm still not entirely convinced it's not just a massive joke (a russian troll farm ?) I mean how the hell do so many people consider a six figure salary too poor to have a third child?

my eldest is already in school. Simply put after school activities do not take place before 5pm. Dh and I alternate who picks up and who drops off, so far it works. Any activities have to be after school or on school site.

Sorry can I ask how? Do you have debts and a really high mortgage? Because your take home has to be 6.5k at least net a month.

We have mortgage costs of 1300, 3 children and combined income of 56k which is fine, however we have no childcare costs. So add your annual childcare costs to that figure and calculate the difference in mortgage.

my eldest is already in school. Simply put after school activities do not take place before 5pm. Dh and I alternate who picks up and who drops off, so far it works. Any activities have to be after school or on school site.

I just said it was hard not impossible 🤷🏻‍♀️
If you share pick ups & drop offs when do you fit in full time working hours?

But that is the point. You dont want to just survive. You want to be able to provide a good life.

i see daily the result of people having children they can afford to feed and not much else. It is selfish.

Wow.
I mean I know I shouldn't allow myself to be drawn in, but there are some posters on this thread, who, if not trolling, are living in such a tiny bubble it is astounding.
Even if you are actually in that wealth bracket yourself, surely you must realise that no social worker, teacher, administrator, Police officer, Fire fighter, OT, physio, nurse, shop worker, cleaner, youth worker, dance teacher, grave digger, mechanic, or 1001 other trades earns the ridiculous amounts being spoken about ? But that millions of dc grow up living very happy lives in normal homes up and down the country.

No-one can be that ignorant, surely ?

See I don’t get this, how are people on a combined income of 100k and saying they can’t afford more than one child. Fair enough if you don’t want one, but this is what’s baffling me about my dh comment. Firstly his figure isn’t even far from what we currently earn but realistically we can’t and would be unlikely to be able to pay accommodation for 2 kids at uni as it, could be close to £1500 a month, but therein lie work arounds, of perhaps purchasing a BTL property in a uni town and also them staying home and/ or degree apprenticeships. Buy a first car sure, but it doesn’t need to be brand new car, a 10 year old car is perfectly fine. Likewise is saving for your own deposit with a contribution from Mum and Dad. Likewise toward a wedding (although I’d strongly advise against pissing money away on a wedding but it’s their choice). We save for them which will be theirs but they can only spend it once.

Fascinating thread. We have 3dc (twins so only planned two) and earn £110k between us. We live very comfortably - city breaks, theatre, concerts, dc do lots of hobbies (too many for my sanity), we have 2 cars and a summer holiday booked in Europe. Some people on this thread seem to think we’re struggling… we’re really not. We could live on less (but I’d rather not).

Logging on half an hr earlier/ taking 15 mins less at lunch and staying logged on 15 mins later/ logging on 15 earlier/ doing an extra 15 mins in the evening. No one click watches us, it’s delineated responsibilities. We block out our diary and no one puts meetings in then. Never been an issue.

we drive to school takes about 30 mins all in, never been to much of a big deal. In office day we have wrap around care

See I don’t get this, how are people on a combined income of 100k and saying they can’t afford more than one child. Fair enough if you don’t want one, but this is what’s baffling me about my dh comment. Firstly his figure isn’t even far from what we currently earn but realistically we can’t and would be unlikely to be able to pay accommodation for 2 kids at uni as it, could be close to £1500 a month,

Lots on that income may have bigger mortgages & then many people like to save/plan to retire early etc.

We wouldn’t be able to have the same lifestyle with another one without me upping my hours & working more over the holidays which I don’t want. It’s just personal choices.

coming from a pension background into mortgages but getting into work later In life (late 20s) I’m cognisant of the fact I’ll definitely be working into later life, not necessarily the grind stressful job but I’ll be doing something. It’s a personal choice to want to as well, retirement did my DF no favours, so much so dm has no plans to step back, but has scaled back her hours. I can see that being me, and I’m ok with that- take a few steps down the corporate ladder and do some chewing gum work.

i definitely like to save, so wouldn’t be prepared to give that up- I dunno I was just so baffled by DHs comments on salaries it’s odd reading it here too

Logging on half an hr earlier/ taking 15 mins less at lunch and staying logged on 15 mins later/ logging on 15 earlier/ doing an extra 15 mins in the evening. No one click watches us, it’s delineated responsibilities. We block out our diary and no one puts meetings in then. Never been an issue.

So if you pick up dc at 3/3:30 do you work when you get home?

I think it depends more on the adults than the number of children though. Some adults on 100k may be spending huge amounts on themselves (eg expensive car repayments, lots of expensive clothes/jewellery/watches/shoes so forth, children dressed in designer clothes because they enjoy shopping, eating out regularly etc) which would them leave less money for the children than a couple on 60k who don't have high material needs for themselves.

i definitely like to save, so wouldn’t be prepared to give that up- I dunno I was just so baffled by DHs comments on salaries it’s odd reading it here too

Perhaps he just has different expectations

No debts, small mortgage, cars owned outright, both children at private school, horses, holidays, savings.

Flip are you my line manager?
yes I work when I get home with my dc at home, sometimes they play at a friend over the roads. We set up some snacks, dc does their reading, colouring and any homework (mainly practicing numbers and letters). With us working, the other parent likely started earlier that day so finishes earlier too

Well it's all relative but around here (expensive part of Manchester) it's probably £50k combined.

£130k is a bit ridiculous. I know people with 3,4,5 dc on even less.

did I read you had one dc?

private school fees likely the difference. Different strokes and all that but private school isn’t a choice I’d make, so I suspect that’s where the additional cost lies. My fees were over 10k a year 20 years ago